Chapter 37 Betrayal: I also wanted to be the one who killed him. ...
Zhu Xi laughed angrily: "In the same boat? You and me?"
“Of course,” he said. “This interest has been tied together from the moment you were born.”
Everything you have comes from your father.
"Zhu Xi, do you intend to betray your father?"
……Father.
Zhu Xi recalled that she had never paid attention to T before.
Her father and the male team leader may have had a long-standing relationship based on shared interests.
The male group leader, as a rising star, could be said to have climbed to his position by stepping over his predecessor. At that time, the Co-Prosperity Sphere's ideology was still based on the equality of all beings; they claimed that no one should be divided into different classes based on whether or not they practiced spirituality.
The male team leader successfully rose to power through his innovative "keeping up with the times" mindset. Although he still talks about equality for all, from the moment he made his public appearance, he firmly stood on the side of women and fought for their rights.
Has he changed? Or did he have this purpose from the very beginning?
Upon closer examination using the conventional thinking found on the forum, it's clear that someone must have been pulling strings behind the scenes for a new male spirit practitioner with a low spiritual rank to climb to this position in such a short time.
If this was a premeditated scheme, could her father have been involved?
No. Zhu Xi immediately rejected the idea, and a stronger thought arose in her mind.
—They were all involved.
The "spirit" was a tool for the male team leader to make profits. How much he gained from it represented how many people were facilitating this transaction.
Thinking of those familiar faces, Zhu Xi felt a chill run down her spine and a cold shiver rise in her heart.
She was absent-minded and said in a daze, "I understand."
The male team leader told her this because he wasn't afraid she would go out and "tell on him." Or rather, he didn't care about telling on him at all, because the people who could "tell on him" were all on his side.
-
Yun Qiandu had been cursing the male team leader for twenty minutes straight: "He's a damn bastard, he really is a scumbag."
I had long suspected that his rise to power was inseparable from his relationship with the central district, and hearing it now only makes me feel disgusted.
That hypocritical facade brought him many advantages, and countless women were deceived by him, such as Xiao Mi.
Perhaps they were specially chosen representatives by the men in the central area—creating a fictitious "good man" symbol, simply to generate tangible benefits for them by shaping a "product".
"No wonder, no wonder they created that eccentric persona. They had planned this all along, using it to deceive and swindle people."
She never believed in such dirty things, but there was no shortage of women who believed in this kind of persona.
"Those who believed him and joined the Co-Prosperity Sphere became his backup resources. He's really good at scheming."
The others were furious, but Chu Jue's expression remained largely unchanged as he pondered matters related to the two thousand.
The mystery surrounding the high value of two thousand has been unveiled. If the "spirit brainwashing plan" is the reason why the value of two thousand far exceeds that of others, then it seems to explain the criteria for determining this value.
It wasn't "based on strength" as she had imagined. The so-called numerical values above their heads were actually "evil deeds values," with higher values indicating the more evil deeds they had committed.
Therefore, she gained merit points after harvesting the other party.
The verification process is not difficult. Since the management office is involved, she can find out by looking at the merit points above the men's heads when she attends the council meeting.
There might be quite a few merit points exceeding two thousand... which would be a great thing for her main storyline. But it also symbolizes that they have done something unforgivable.
Will the system the designer loaded have always known about this? Or is it that the unseen system is guiding her to discover these things? And then... resolve them?
Ying Yi also looked at Zhu Xi: "You should know what will happen if you tell this."
“…I know.” Zhu Xi’s tense expression remained unchanged.
These days, her indecisiveness keeps her up at night.
...She even lost her temper and chose to question her father.
-
"Why are you so disobedient? Didn't I tell you you shouldn't have inquired about these things? How could you do something so disappointing to me in private?" Her father said with a dark face. "Zhu Xi, you're getting bolder and bolder."
Zhu Xi had anticipated his reaction, but she still couldn't suppress her sadness: "I just want to know, were you involved in this?"
"Participate?" Father Zhu scoffed. "More than just participate, you and I have long been deeply involved."
Before Zhu Xi could understand the meaning behind his words, he continued, "Zhu Xi, haven't you always been curious about why you've never met your mother?"
……Mother?
Zhu Xi stood there, stunned.
Why did he suddenly bring up his mother?
She snapped out of her reverie, remembering the topic they were "arguing" about, and the "mother" who had puzzled her since childhood and whom her father had never mentioned.
Long ago, little Zhu Xi discovered that she was different from her classmates.
—Dad, why does everyone else have a mother, but I've never seen my own mother?
—Why did you suddenly ask this? Just because everyone else has it doesn't mean you have to. Zhu Xi is a good girl; having her father is enough. Why bring up her mother?
—Okay, Dad…but I…
I really want a mom.
—Be good. Just this once; don't ever say that again.
As a little girl who was taught to be the "most obedient daughter," Zhu Xi dared not ask her father any questions, no matter how much she wanted to know.
Even now, in this moment of recollection, Zhu Xi realizes that she has never forgotten the scene from that day.
The image of his father's suddenly darkened face, and his capricious yet indifferent expression when he mentioned "mother," resurfaced before my eyes.
The father from that time and the man before me gradually overlapped.
"Isn't the answer right here?" the man said, his expression shifting between anger and uncertainty. "You were born under a spirit long before the Spirit Project even existed."
-
After countless moments of hesitation and agonizing, Zhu Xi made her decision.
"I know."
She felt a deep-seated disgust and needed this sinful, unacceptable supply chain to be brought to a stop.
Even though her father was deeply involved, she herself could not escape blame.
The male team leader said—they are the ones in the same boat—but that's clearly not true.
If she didn't have that "status," she might have become one of the "mothers." But they could never become "mothers" no matter what.
She is a daughter, and she could also be a mother. She is one of millions of women, but she could never be a team leader or a father.
...She didn't want any more people to become "mothers" she had never met.
“You’re going to kill the team leader, right?” Zhu Xi said. “I also want to be the one who kills him.”
Whether it's "he" or "they".
But her strength was too weak; the male team leader didn't even take her seriously. If she could go back to that scene, if she could be like Chu Jue—she could have done it on the spot.
Zhu Xi valued her desire to become stronger more than ever before.
She wanted to become stronger, to become a spirit. She wanted to possess the power to strike back at everyone who displeased her.
She didn't want to be a helpless, obedient little girl anymore.
As she had this thought, Zhu Xi suddenly realized that her thoughts seemed to be becoming tangible, even involving her body.
Her brain triggered a burning sensation in her abdomen—a strange sense of connection arose spontaneously—
Her self-blame, her resentment, those torments she didn't want to be powerless against and desperately tried to escape—all seemed to be breaking through her defenses. A jumble of emotions, mysteriously coalescing together—
Chu Jue saw that the slightly reddish gray characters on her face had completely faded and transformed into a dazzling scarlet like those of Yun Qiandu and the others.
"My God!" Zhu Xi exclaimed in surprise, hesitatingly sensing herself. After a moment, she murmured to herself, "I...I think I can sense spiritual energy?"
-
With her potential value turning from gray to red, Zhu Xi officially became a Spirit Master.
Aside from the displayed color, Zhu Xi's stats remained unchanged today, regardless of whether she was a Spiritualist or not. Chu Jue pondered the connection.
The former changes, while the latter remains unchanged... Gray and red only symbolize different identities and have no relation to numerical values.
Since the potential value is a fixed value that always exists regardless of whether it is gray or red, does the fact that the designer's system deliberately uses two colors to distinguish them imply something?
For example, judging from the colors—gray symbolizes the unlocked state, while red represents the potential value of the fully unlocked form?
The higher the potential value, the higher the probability of becoming a Spiritualist.
Zhu Xi's stats only increased after she learned of the male team leader's plan in the past few days... Compared to before, her "strength" shouldn't have increased much, but her mindset has genuinely changed.
Could the thing affecting her potential value be the thoughts she had during this period?
Witnessing Zhu Xi's transformation, Jiang Tianjiao, the only non-spiritual being present, stared wide-eyed, filled with admiration: "How did you do that, Sister Zhu Xi!"
Seeking instruction online.
"It's about... wanting to become? Wanting to possess? Wanting to believe... that you can do those things?"
Zhu Xi couldn't pinpoint where the change had occurred. She felt as if it were all a dream, and she didn't know what had triggered it, but she seemed to have automatically "suddenly realized" all of this.
Jiang Jingshu empathized: "Me too."
She often recalled her feelings at that time, but she herself was unclear about them. She was under the influence of drugs, her mind was clouded, and she thought about many random things…t…
After much thought, she could only summarize it as an instinctive reaction in a critical moment. However, "instinct" is the hardest word to use as a teaching material. She and Fang Zhiyi tried various methods to teach Jiang Tianjiao for a long time, but Jiang Tianjiao still couldn't grasp it.
…We can’t just throw Jiang Tianjiao into some kind of crisis because of this, Jiang Jingshu sighed.
"Does believing I can become stronger really make me stronger?" Am I not trusting myself enough? Jiang Tianjiao muttered to herself, "I need to be strong, I need to be strong..."
Even after she read aloud a short essay, she still didn't feel the mysterious integration that her two older sisters had mentioned.
Chu Jue was also observing her numerical values.
Yes, nothing has changed.
It seems that relying solely on words is indeed not enough.
"Let's go." Looking at Zhu Xi, who was in a state of excitement, Ying Yi instructed, "Let's go and preserve some evidence first."
Thinking of the merit points that were so close and that he finally had the chance to reap, Chu Jue couldn't delay.
"Send him to his death."
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Author's Note: Zhu Xi: I also want to be the one who kills him.
Chu Jue: (On alert) (Gets up) (Immediately)
The next chapter is quite long, revised countless times, and includes many artistic touches. Hopefully, it won't need further revisions. [Good luck, Lianlian] Blur is my protective shield (protective shield).
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